WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� As the Democratic National Committee prepares to elect a new chair, its departing leader says Democrats should have stuck with in the 2024 race.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Jaime Harrison reflected on why his party lost to President Donald Trump and what might have happened had former Vice President Kamala Harris had more time to campaign after Biden ended his reelection bid following a .
He also offered advice to his eventual successor, who . The next DNC chair, Harrison said, needs to insist that the party not be a 鈥渞ubber stamp鈥� to its presidential candidate.
Here are excerpts from that conversation:
Why did Harris and Democrats lose the White House?
HARRISON: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know that there鈥檚 one answer. A lot of people like to come up with things, and they say it鈥檚 the economy. Well, it could have been a part of it. I think every state had their own little nuance. In Michigan, the played something there."
"The gap in which she lost wasn鈥檛 huge, but when you add up little pockets where it鈥檚, some people because of Gaza, some people because of the economy, some people because she was a woman. And I think in many of those states, those little nicks here and there added up to how she lost in some of those states.鈥�
Did Harris鈥� shortened campaign timeline hurt her chances?
HARRISON: 鈥淗ad she had more runway, it would have been probably easier for her and for the campaign. We were building a race for Joe Biden.鈥�
鈥淛oe Biden , people said it was one of the best State of the Unions that we鈥檝e ever seen. Then we move forward to the debate, and people were like, that was a horrible debate performance. And then my thought was: 鈥楯oe Biden secured the nomination. The primary was done, and so, I鈥檓 a loyal guy. We鈥檙e riding with Biden.鈥欌��
鈥淎nd if you look at the other side, in terms of Republicans, Donald Trump , how many times for all these felonies? And you didn鈥檛 hear a peep from the Republicans, in terms of like, 鈥榃e need to jettison Donald Trump, and we need to open up a new primary, and we need to do this and that.鈥� And so sometimes, I think, Democrats can learn something in terms of, let鈥檚 put a line of defense around our folks and defend them as well.鈥�
Should Democrats have stuck with Biden?
HARRISON: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my normal default, is that you stick by your people, right, particularly people who have worked hard on behalf of the party."
鈥淚 went into this thinking, OK, you've got probably the most successful of my lifetime legislative president who has poured tons of money into making sure that not just Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get elected, but Democrats get elected 鈥� not just in the battleground states, but all states who support a lot of resources and his own time fundraising in order to strengthen the state parties.鈥�
"And then when he hits a roadblock, when he hits a bump in the road, do we stick with him, or do we jettison him? That鈥檚 the mentality that I had going into this. And my nature is, 'I'm on the team with you, you鈥檙e my quarterback. You got sacked a few times. But you know what? I'm going to block the hell out of the next person that's coming at you.' And that is not always the mentality of everybody in my party. And so sometimes, people look on the sidelines, ready to call in the backup.鈥�
Was the party prepped for a possible candidate switch?
HARRISON: 鈥淚 had a very small group to whom I basically said, just game out for me what happens ... if I have to do something, because people were asking for a big primary and this and that 鈥� and again, we have a short time frame, and so basically it was going back to the rules.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even talk to all of the people in my inner circle. There were two staffers ... just in case anything happened, I wanted to make sure that I knew what we could do. And so we had some structure for what something would look like.鈥�
Did Harris act quickly enough to start acquiring support?
HARRISON: 鈥淪he was literally on it. I wanted to get a sense of whether or not we were going to have a lot of people who were going to throw their hats in the ring.鈥�
鈥淎nd so I started making phone calls just asking, 鈥業鈥檓 sure you鈥檝e heard the news about the president,鈥� and to a person, they鈥檙e saying, 鈥業 just got off the phone with the vice president, and I鈥檓 pledging my support.' I must have been chasing her calls, because literally, I鈥檓 calling, and everyone said, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檓 supporting her.鈥欌��
What changes does the DNC need to make?
HARRISON: 鈥淭he DNC shouldn鈥檛 just be a rubber stamp to whatever the campaign wants.鈥�
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 always have a seat at the table, in terms of, you take all of the arrows and the responsibility. People want to give you all the blame, but you don鈥檛 have the power to make those decisions, and I really think there needs to be reapportionment of a better, a greater balance.鈥�
鈥淚 did not always have a seat at the table, was not always invited in the room. And I just think that is inherently problematic because of the perspectives that you bring.鈥�
Do Democrats need to work harder with nonwhite voters?
Trump gained larger shares of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, when he lost those groups to Biden, , a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters.
HARRISON: 鈥淧eople think, well, it鈥檚 just about turnout in the Black community, right? It鈥檚 just about turnout with this group. No, it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 more than just turnout. It鈥檚 about persuasion. You have to persuade people why you are the best person for them. You have to talk to them about the issues that are important to them. You have to show them that you really are fighting for them, and that means having those individual conversations, but having targeted conversations specifically geared towards the people that you鈥檙e talking to.鈥�
鈥淵ou cannot take anybody for granted. You cannot just assume just because you鈥檙e a Black man, you鈥檙e gonna vote for a Democrat.鈥�
How has the DNC changed under your leadership?
Harrison, who against South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham but broke fundraising records during his run, said he has no immediate political plans. He didn鈥檛 close the door on another campaign. He has long been mentioned as a possible future contender for the seat held for decades by his mentor, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
HARRISON: 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of what we started here at the DNC. I created a red-state fund, where we鈥檙e pouring more money into those red states to help them rebuild the infrastructure. But there鈥檚 a lot more that has to be done.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking to myself, wouldn鈥檛 it be appropriate for another southerner, another South Carolinian, a former DNC chair, to figure out how to re-establish the Democratic Party back in the South? And so I think I鈥檓 going to spend my time doing that.鈥�
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Kinnard can be reached at
Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press
